Legally Bond
Legally Bond
An Interview with Rob Manfredo, Labor and Employment
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In this episode of Legally Bond, Kim speaks with Bond labor and employment attorney Rob Manfredo. Rob discusses how he transitioned his practice from corporate litigation to labor and employment with litigation when he joined Bond.
Labor & Employment Law
Speaker 1Hello and welcome to Legally Bond , a podcast presented by the law firm Bond , Chenek and King . I'm your host , Kim Wolf-Price . Today we're talking with Rob Manfredo , a member of the firm who works out of Bond's Albany office . Rob is a labor and employment attorney assisting Bond's management side employer clients . He also serves as the deputy office managing member for the Albany office . Hi , Rob , I'm excited to have you join us on the podcast .
Speaker 2Hey , kim , thanks for having me .
Speaker 1Yeah , it's great . So , with employer side , labor and employment , I know there are so many topics that we could cover , I guess . Today I'm hoping we can sort of speak more generally about labor and employment law . Learn about you , I hope , and maybe focus a bit on both client counseling in the employment law context and your traditional labor work as well . Does that sort of work ?
Speaker 2as a roadmap ? Absolutely , that sounds great .
Speaker 1Terrific . Okay , well , before we get too far into legal practice topics and labor and employment law , we do , on the podcast , like to start episodes learning a little bit about our guests . It helps the listeners connect with who we're speaking to . So would you mind talking a little bit about your background , where you grew up , undergrad , family , whatever you'd like to share .
Speaker 2Sure , absolutely so . I grew up in the Utica , new York area , new Hartford to be exact . I know you're a resident of the Mohawk Valley originally as well , so definitely a source of pride there Hawk Valley originally as well , so definitely a source of pride there . I moved out this way in the Albany area back in 2001 to attend Siena College for my undergrad degree . I majored in political science , did a minor in philosophy , always kind of knew that I wanted to go to law school , so a heavy concentration of what I studied at Siena was part of the pre-law program that they had at Siena College . And so after Siena I ended up going to Albany Law School , graduated from Albany Law in 2005 . And I started in private practice right out of law school with a smaller firm in the capital region , was there for about six years and then I landed at Bonchenek and King in 2014 .
Speaker 1That's great . Thank you so much , and I do promise to everyone that we won't talk about the Mohawk Valuedica throughout the entire podcast episode . We did it before we started recording , so you're all safe , though . You would enjoy it , I'm sure . Well , thanks for the background , and I knew that you had lateraled over , but now you've been with Bond for a decade now .
Speaker 2Yep , it'll be 11 years in January .
Speaker 1That's amazing , terrific , all right . Well , we're very glad that you did that . You mentioned Sienna . You knew then even that you wanted a law degree . Is that right ?
Speaker 2I did , yeah , and it was something that I when I was in high school . I had been involved in Model UN for a number of years and then got involved . There was an inaugural mock trial team that we had at the high school . I went to and it was definitely something I wanted to pursue . So when I was looking at colleges , the Siena pre-law program was something that really stood out to me , which is part of the reason I ended up going there . So , yeah , absolutely it was something I had kind of had my mind made up when I started my undergrad studies .
Speaker 1That's fantastic and it is a great program there , for sure at Siena . So okay . So law is one thing , but labor law is another . Was that something you did early in your years of practice or know that you were interested in before you got to Bond ?
Speaker 2Not at all . So it's kind of an interesting story . I started off doing a completely different area of practice . So I was in litigation , very general litigation , working for a smaller firm . I really did everything from personal injury , plaintiff side , defense side , all the way through different types of commercial litigation , construction law .
Speaker 2The firm I worked for did a lot of work in the field with school districts , public school districts , and so a lot of the work that I was doing was representing school districts in various types of litigation , whether it might be a construction project or some type of a breach of contract claim against somebody . So it was a very varied practice . I was doing a lot of different stuff . When I joined Bond it was for a labor and employment position and I had had some exposure to the area at my old firm with a litigation practice I had been working in . But it was in a very kind of a sliver of what you know , of what I do now , and really just more focused on the litigation aspect of labor and employment law . So you know , joining Bond it was kind of taking a leap of faith in some respects to get into something that was dramatically different from a practice standpoint from what I had been doing previously .
Speaker 1Right , because there's a lot more counseling in what you do . There is still litigation and litigation type activities , but there's a lot of client counseling , which is different from a traditional litigation practice .
Speaker 2Absolutely , absolutely . Yeah , it's definitely a big part of what we do .
Speaker 1So are there anything sort of specific that drew you to the labor and employment law or that keep drawing you to it ?
Speaker 2So really for me , what made me want to kind of come to bond and really kind of focus in on this area of practice was the practice I had been in with . Litigation was kind of , as I mentioned , all over the board . I had been practicing for six years or so . I had kind of reached the point where I wanted to focus in on a particular area of practice .
Speaker 2One of the things in litigation that's challenging is that you're always doing something different . So you're always trying to learn the law and whatever the case might be , and there is obviously some duplication year over year with different types of work . But I was reaching a point where I really wanted something that I could hone my skills and really apply something for the duration of my career . So the limited exposure I had had with labor and employment law at my prior firm was something that piqued my interest . And when this opportunity to come to Bond came along , and obviously knowing about the stellar reputation of the firm from when I was in law school , I kind of jumped at the opportunity to join Bond and try something different .
Speaker 1That's fantastic . You know , I have to say , one of the things that interests me the most about labor and employment law it's just how much it impacts businesses and people and all the topics that it covers , like all the federal laws and , of course , the state laws . But we all spend so much of our waking time at work and engaged with , you know , our employment . You must find yourself handling like a wide variety of topics in any given week .
Speaker 2I do . Yeah , I mean , it really runs the gamut of different types of issues . A lot of the work that we do is very , you know , human resources centric , right . So we're dealing with that , those on the ground , day-to-day issues that are coming up in the workplace , right . It could be anything from an employee who's underperforming and how to deal with that issue , a leave of absence issue , it could be a discrimination claim . I do a lot in the area of traditional labor law , dealing with unions as well , so it really does kind of again run the gamut of different types of issues . We do a lot of policy development , training , proactive counseling . The issues are never dull and it does touch on that human element of work as well where you can really relate to the types of issues that you're encountering , because they're human issues , right . They're things that people , that businesses are dealing with , dealing with their employees and just kind of navigating those types of challenges .
Speaker 1Yeah , absolutely , it's just . It really , as you mentioned , could be almost anything , but some of your work also focuses on what we at the firm refer to as traditional labor work or labor relations work . Would you mind talking a little bit about that ?
Speaker 2Sure , absolutely . And so my area of practice with traditional labor is really more so in the private sector . This is generally governed by the National Labor Relations Act , which allows for employees in the private sector to form unions and to engage with unions and collective bargaining with their employers . So that part of my practice really kind of focuses on collective bargaining in situations where employees have elected to have a union , an outside union , represent them , and so we sit at the bargaining table and we negotiate collective bargaining agreements with various unions in a variety of different industries . There's also a litigation element of it that comes up from time to time , but it really is kind of more focused on , you know , what we'll call like kind of those union type of issues . You know , situations where either employees are seeking to have a union represent them or have elected a union to represent them , and then navigating some of those day-to-day issues .
Speaker 1Which I think might be what listeners like sort of see on social media or , you know , in online journalism , is that's been happening a little bit more over the last few years , so it might be something people think about when they think of labor law .
Speaker 2Sure , absolutely . I mean , you know a lot of what we're seeing in the news with Starbucks and Amazon . There's been a ton of media coverage nationally over , you know , over those types of union elections , and Tesla , I think , has had some recent media attention around that as well . So , yeah , it is something where it's definitely garnered more national attention over the last several years .
Litigation and Counseling in Labor
Speaker 1And so you didn't give up litigation totally , though , when you came over to us and you do , and that's what's interesting about labor it's so heavily client counseling but also also there is the litigation piece , whether it's New York State Division of Human Rights , eeoc , equal Employment , opportunity Commission or our state and federal courts . So what does that type of work in the labor world entail ?
Speaker 2Yeah . So when I joined the firm , that was one of the questions I had is am I going to still get to litigate ? Because I still love litigating and I didn't want to give up that part of my practice . So it's just all focused on employment claims , right ? So we do everything from your garden variety , you know discrimination , types of claims , harassment , types of claims , retaliation . We even deal with issues like whistleblower type of claims that may arise in the workplace . And , as you referenced , those claims can originate in a variety of different forms . So there are administrative forms , like the New York State Division of Human Rights or the New York State Department of Labor , the Federal Equal Opportunity Commission , Equal Employment Opportunity Commission , and then we go all the way through state and federal court . So claims can either originate or eventually land in federal court or state court and we will litigate those cases . Land in federal court or state court and we will litigate those cases right through a jury trial if necessary .
Speaker 1That's great . So you get to do both , which is really kind of it's going to be fun .
Speaker 2It is , and what I find to be the best part of being a labor and employment attorney is it's not litigation all the time right , so you get a bit of a break from the day-to-day of litigation . You can do client counseling , there's the traditional labor aspects , but you're still getting a good fill of handling litigation for your clients when those types of issues do arise .
Speaker 1And I would imagine I've mentioned the client counseling piece and you have as well that's got to sort of help sometimes avoid litigation .
Speaker 2It does . So one of know one of the interesting parts we generally will get involved very early on in the process when an issue comes up with an employee . So we might actually be trying to manage the situation from day one to avoid litigation . And then , if it does end up in litigation , we already know all of the background related to that particular employee once the lawsuit is commenced . So we're able to kind of hit the ground running , so to speak , in defending our client , because we already know all of the things that led up to the employee's termination or whatever the underlying issues were .
Speaker 1That's great . I mean I imagine generally in issues like that and otherwise , you really need to understand the business , like the operations , the culture , the climate , the goals . It's got to be a really big and important part , whether you're counseling or litigating .
Speaker 2Yeah , that's absolutely true and you know it's one of the things I think that sets our group apart from other attorneys is that we really do view ourselves as an extension of our clients . Right , we look at ourselves as a partner to those clients . So we have an obligation to really learn about the business , understand the operation equally across the board to these organizations . But you really need to understand company culture , understand what the mission of the organization is . You need to understand their risk tolerance . Every company that we work for and we're , you know , as you mentioned earlier , we're management side right , so we're doing this a hundred percent for the employer side . You have to understand the workings of your client , of the business to really be able to adequately defend their interests and understand where you're going with a particular issue . Or you know , in the case of litigation , knowing how to defend the case .
Speaker 1Well , so you're doing this management side related labor and employment work , and then at the firm you do things like the associates committee and take on sort of these management side things . So what is the associate committee ? Would you mind telling us a little bit about that ? I mean , we get to work together on it , so it's one of my favorites .
Speaker 2Yeah , absolutely so . This is my second year on the firm's associate committee . It's a committee I think there's maybe eight or nine of us total on the committee all members , partners of the firm and basically our responsibility is to manage issues that come up with our associates . But primarily it deals with the end of the year review process for our associates . And , kim , you would know better than I do how many associates we have at the firm , but it's a substantial number . I think we're probably upwards of 70 or so , maybe we're actually closer to 80 .
Speaker 2Yeah , all right . So we have a good number of associates throughout the firm and all of our different offices and actually we're right now starting that end of the year review process . So we solicit information from the members that work for the different associates , we review that information , we have one-on-one meetings with the associates to kind of go over the feedback that we've received and then ultimately we're responsible for making decisions about compensation increases and any bonus eligibility . So it's a really interesting insight into , kind of the inner workings of the firm and dealing with kind of those labor issues that come up , you know , for our own associates , right , and dealing with with those types of issues .
Speaker 1And you get to meet associates who you don't normally get to see because you never do these , so you never do these reviews for people that you work with .
Speaker 2That was my favorite part about it . So last year was my first year on the committee and I was assigned to the business department in Syracuse . Those are people that I generally would never have an occasion to work for , maybe with the exception of a couple issues that might come up here and there . So getting to meet people and actually learn about their practices , learn about them as individuals , why they joined the firm , the type of work that they do , what their aspirations are , that was really my favorite part of being on the committee , and we're scheduled to start doing those meetings again next week actually , so I'm looking forward to doing that again .
Speaker 1And it's particularly good because you know if anyone gets promoted to membership . You've had a chance to get to know them beforehand , so your future partners are out there .
Speaker 2Absolutely . Yeah , that's great .
Speaker 1Well . So I have to ask this any advice for someone maybe interested in becoming a law firm associate or even particularly a labor and employment associate ?
Speaker 2So I you know , from my standpoint , I think it's you definitely have to have some interest in the substantive area right , whether that's labor and employment or you want to do anything in private practice . Because you're doing this a lot , you're spending the better part of every day working as an attorney within that area of practice . So first of all is having kind of the interest and the passion for it and then I think really , at the end of the day , it's you know , if you're , if you want to become an attorney or associate at a private law firm , kind of understanding you know what goes along with that as far as the expectations and as far as the kind of the working expectations and what that really entails from you know , working with businesses , working with clients and just having a good handle on what the culture is like , you know , at a particular firm culture is like at a particular firm .
Speaker 1Yeah , that's great advice . Thank you so much and thanks for joining us on the podcast today , rob . So if a topic comes up that , even if it's a short one , and you want to do a special episode , I hope you'll come back and join us . I always appreciate catching up with you and I look forward to talking to you again soon .
Speaker 2Absolutely . Thanks so much for having me .
Speaker 1Thank you for tuning into this episode of Legally Bond . If you're listening and have any questions for me , want to hear from someone at the firm or have a suggestion for a future topic , please email us at legallybond at bskcom . Also , don't forget to rate , review and subscribe to Legally Bond wherever podcasts are downloaded . Until our next talk , be well , be well .
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